Sunday, April 21, 2013

Native American Folktales

Native American
Folktales are different from stories originated in Europe in the way they put
an emphasis on illustrating their tradition and custom. In many stories, they portray
the way of surviving through hunting by men or embroidery by woman. They
distinguish men and women, as in “How Men and Women Got Together”, men were
stronger and taller, and they had sharp sticks to get more food, while women
had fine tipis made of tanned buffalo hide and had beautiful clothes. It is
quite obvious to see in many Native American stories that there exist many
elements related to nature (plants, animals) as they were what people stay
close with all the time.

The magic element is
mostly based on their belief. For example, they believed in another life after
dead, and the soul transferred from the body of one to another. The spirit was
the centre of their belief and had a great power and guided people to the right
way of living. In Deer Hunter and White Corn Maiden, the spirit governed the
life and dead of people, decided destiny and punished those whom were against
the tradition. However, the magic did not dominate in any story that most of
stories bring reader back to the reality in the end.

Many stories’ endings
aim at explaining some nature phenomenon. The ending that Deer Hunter and White
Corn Maiden were turned into two stars is to explain the origin of two stars in
the west sky that they saw in the evening. The ending of “How Mosquitoes came
to be” explains why those creature sting people to get blood and they begin the
scratch themselves.

Native Americans live
according to the tradition. For most of people, the tradition is the basis for
them to live. Any story always involves a strong sense of community. People in
Native American Stories live in a group, go on a journey to get recognition of
the community or live for the benefit of other people in the community. This is
also to pass down lesson and maintain the tradition so that young generation
was aware of their ancestor and continue their way of living.